ITI launch set for today, will small investors stay away?

The public offer of media giant ITI will be launched today. It will be the largest public offer in Eastern and Central Europe this year. It may help boost ITI so that it could rival the leading private media company Agora. The complexity of the issue, however, may discourage small investors from buying shares. The structure of the offer differs from other Warsaw Stock Exchange debuts, as the company intends to issue not only new securities but also existing ones. Additionally, the shares have been divided into separate offers and tranches. ITI is to offer up to 48% of its shares in the form of 110.6 million shares, including 68.4 million new and 42.2 million existing shares. In the managerial offer, which consists of 6.3 million shares the securities are to be sold in three tranches and priced at zl. 4.5 per share. The directed offer includes 33.5 million shares. The subscription period will last form June 19 to July 2. ITI is pinning hopes on new media services via the internet. So far one of the most valuable ITI assets has been the TVN television station. (Puls Biznesu, p. 3, 4, 7; Reuters) K.S